Compensation for Southern Rail commuters

Since the middle of last year Southern Rail’s service has deteriorated to totall unacceptable levels. This is due to a variety of factors – including bad management, a lack of investment in the lines running Southern services and strikes from the trade unions.

I take the problems that Southern’s abysmal service has been creating extremely seriously. People have been facing the very real threat of losing their jobs, have seen their family life suffer and have had to face a daily onslaught of delayed, overcrowded trains that may not even show up.

Since May I have been calling for the franchise to be stripped from its current operator, GTR and for routes within the M25 to be handed to TfL. I stand by this. I have campaigned in various ways – including an attempt to introduce new legislation – to put an end to the strikes. I have also campaigned successfully for the Government to invest £300 million in rail infrastructure.

I have also successfully campaigned for the Government to provide a refund for passengers.

This refund is now available to all passengers with a season ticket worth at least 12 weeks between 1 April and 31 December 2016. This applies to tens of thousands of customers.

I appreciate that this does not cover everyone who have been affected. People who tap in and tap out (which includes me) will not be eligible. However, if you have uploaded your travel card to an oyster card then you are still eligible to apply. The final deadline to apply is 30 April, so make sure that your application is in before then.

I will continue to do everything I can to improve the service for passengers.